Uncle Steve

Breaking News: These days, when you say Apple Mouse, you could mean Mickey himself.

It’s happened. The Pixar-Disney merger should be officially announced by the time you read this. Deal’s done, and all it needs is approval from the board. Pixar becomes an arm of Disney and effectively gets absorbed, but Steve-o gets a seat on the board of directors of Disney, gets almost US$7B in stock for the merger (making him the largest individual shareholder), and, along with John Lasseter, takes control of Disney’s animation division. And soon, knowing Steve, much more. Can someone say iDisneyland?

The immediate implications are significant, both up and down the timeline. Think of all the Disney back catalog of movies, animation and all related material up for download on the iTunes Music Store. Think of all the forthcoming Disney/Pixar films to be put up there for years to come. Think of all the ABC-TV, ESPN (Disney territory as well – when Jobs gets in there, everything’s fair game) and Walt Disney Studio content and existing television and film libraries lavishly available on the iTMS (we already have Lost and Desperate Housewives, right?) Think of Apple technology infusing into the production arm of Disney, including digital distribution and sales.

With Steve Jobs’s seat on the board, his new shares and Michael Eisner out of the way, it’s really not far-fetched to think of a Disney Chairmanship for Steve-o, is it? When Uncle Walt went to the big Disneyland in the sky, who woulda thunk that it was possible that there could be an Uncle Steve to sit in his place?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves; I’m just speculating out loud and for all we know it might all be just hot air. But if that day does come, I’d love to see the Keynote address.

“And one more thing…”